THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW Movie Review

Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo L'Evangile Selon Saint-Matthieu

This extraordinary picture is one of the most eloquent ever made about a religious figure. The antithesis of every bloated Hollywood religious epic, The Gospel According to St. Matthew was filmed in a modest black-and-white format without the usual vulgar trickery or, in fact, special effects of any kind. Most of the dialogue is lifted directly from Gospel, and the episodes that are presented are filmed without excessive flourish or ornamentation. This is not to say that the director, Pier Paolo Pasolini, has made a film without personality. Quite the contrary. Pasolini sees the story as one of a fighter against injustice of all kinds, and he emphasizes the meanings of scenes not through theatrical grandiosity (the cast is comprised of all non-professional actors) but through the delicacy of his staging, and, especially, through his use of music. Using everything from Prokofiev's score for Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky, to Mozart and Bach, and, most effectively, to Odetta's stirring rendition of “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” Pasolini brings a contemporary relevance and immediacy to the drama while never disturbing the purity of the images. This is a model of how such material can be brought to the screen without trashing it. Photographed by Tonino Delli Colli. Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction, Costume Design, and Adapted Score.

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1964 142m/B IT Enrique Irazoqui, Susanna Pasolini, Margherita Caruso, Marcello Morante, Mario Socrate; D: Pier Paolo Pasolini; W: Pier Paolo Pasolini; C: Tonino Delli Colli; M: Luis Bacalov. Nominations: Academy Awards ‘66: Best Adapted Score, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (B & W), Best Costume Design (B & W).VHS, LV, 8mm, Letterbox NOS, MRV, WBF